Grandma Young's Sugar Cookies

An aroma, identified in our brain's limbic system, can trigger an emotional memory, but it takes hard work in the kitchen to put the right ingredients together in the right proportions to produce the ancestral potato salad, pasta sauce or cookies. Family recipes often originate with a matriarch who isn't around to reveal the kitchen tricks learned from the previous generation. As a result, many of us modern cooks must start from scratch.

The holidays always trigger emotional memories for me, especially when my brain is stimulated by an aroma. This year it was a trip into Yankee Candle that did it for me. Their "Christmas Cookie" candle permeated the store, and I was hit by a wave of nostalgia.  The memories of my Grandma Young's sugar cookies fueled my desire to recreate her recipe for my family and friends.

 

 My Grandma Young was a marvelous intuitive cook. She could feed a crowd with one chicken and some vegetables out of her garden. She passed away at 104, but the whole family and many friends will always remember her wonderful food and hospitality.  They will especially remember the plate of sugar cookies that she lovingly presented to them when they sat down in her living room.

I loved that memory so much that I didn't want to let it go. So, I've been a kitchen detective, working for a month or so, trying to recreate her recipe.   I think I may have nailed it!

Grandma Young's Sugar Cookies

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

2. Combine butter, powdered sugar and 1 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer.

Add oil, eggs and vanilla, corn syrup, mixing to combine. Gradually add flour mixture. Chill dough 3 to 4 hours until firm.

3. Preheat oven to 350F.

4. Shape dough into walnut-size balls and roll in remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Place cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Dip the bottom of a glass in granulated sugar and press gently onto each ball. (Do not flatten)

5. Bake 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cookies from pan after about 4 minutes and let cool on a layer of newspaper covered with wax paper, or brown paper grocery bags cut open and laid flat. 

Makes 3 dozen